Republicans want SNAP kept out of farm bill debate

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2016 - The Republican platform gives
some ammunition to hard-line conservatives in Congress who want to split the
farm bill, separating the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from farm
and conservation programs. The platform,
approved on the opening day of the convention, says Congress should “separate
the administration of SNAP from the Department of Agriculture.”

Kelly Armstrong, a North Dakota state senator who co-chaired
the subcommittee that wrote the platform’s section on agriculture and energy,
tells Agri-Pulse that the recommendation reflects farmer concerns that debates
about SNAP are making it harder to pass farm bills. The platform’s message is
to “quit playing politics with something that’s really important to our farmers
and ranchers,” he said.

The platform writers didn’t give much credence to arguments
by farm groups and nutrition advocates that SNAP needs to be kept in the farm
bill to maintain a rural-urban coalition for support of farm programs. “The
coalition building is something we all agree to in theory. That just doesn’t
exist right now,” said Armstrong.

The 66-page document blames Democratic efforts to expand
SNAP for delays in getting the 2014 farm bill enacted. Republican efforts to
cut the program emerged as a major sticking point in negotiations over the bill
between the House and the Senate, which was then under Democratic control.

A Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee earlier this
month warned members of the American Soybean Association against supporting the
farm bill split that the GOP platform proposes. “You’re never going to see
another farm bill” if that happens, he said.

Conservative groups successfully lobbied House Republican
leaders to temporarily split the farm bill in 2013 after a version failed on
the House floor, but the legislation was re-combined in later negotiations
between the House and Senate.

For some conservatives, splitting the farm bill is not about making it easier to pass, but making it more difficult. Daren Bakst of the Heritage
Foundation welcomed the platform’s language not because he believes that SNAP
slows down passage of farm bills but because it’s harder to get lawmakers to
enact changes in ether SNAP or farm programs. “If we’re going to have
discussions of reforms for food stamps and the agricultural programs they
can’t be log-rolled together so they just get shoved through the political
process.”

On trade policy, the GOP platform seeks to walk a fine line
between addressing Donald Trump’s criticism of multilateral trade deals while
also maintaining the importance of exports to agriculture and other sectors. The
Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump opposes, isn’t mentioned directly, but
the platform clearly refers to it in warning that Congress shouldn’t consider
major trade agreements during a lame-duck session.

The document also says, “Republicans understand that you can
succeed in a negotiation only if you are willing to walk away from it. A
Republican president will insist on parity in trade and stand ready to
implement countervailing duties if other countries refuse to cooperate.”

The platform “takes some significant steps toward Trump and
away from free trade, but it does it without the divisive rhetoric that he uses
in his stump speeches,” said Bill Reinsch, who recently retired as president of
the National Foreign Trade Council.

The platform also emphasizes the importance of U.S.
agricultural exports, not only to farmers but the broader economy: “Each dollar
of agricultural exports generates another $1.27 in business activity. That is
why we remain committed to expanding trade opportunities and opening new
markets for agriculture.”

There is only a glancing mention of biofuels in the
platform, in the context that all forms of renewable energy, including “wind,
solar, biomass, biofuel, geothermal and tidal energy,” should be cost-effective
and rely on private capital.

Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, which represents ethanol
producers, said he would have preferred to see more support in the platform for
his industry, but “it is what it is.”

“We get a lot of support in both parties,” Buis said. “Our
issue is not a partisan issue.”

The overarching message of the platform across the
agriculture and energy section is criticism of President Obama’s regulatory
agenda. It singles out the EPA’s “waters of the U.S.” rule, attacks the
administration’s use of the Endangered Species Act and calls on Congress to
provide a “timely and orderly mechanism” for turning over some federal lands to
the states.

The platform also reiterates longstanding opposition to
regulations on greenhouse gas emissions or imposition of a tax on carbon.

“We want to lower taxes, we want to lower regulations, open
markets and let our producers go to work,” said Armstrong. “I would have been
fine if that was the one sentence in the platform.”

The GOP platform is far more extensive and detailed when it
comes to agriculture than the Democratic version is expected to be. The 39-page
draft Democratic platform calls
for expanding “local food markets and regional food systems” and providing “a
focused safety net to assist family operations that need support during challenging
times.”

This week’s guest on Open Mic is Ken Dallmier, President and COO of Clarkson Grain Company. While the global grain business is dominated by supply, demand and now trade wars, this Illinois-based company functions under a customer-focused mindset. Dallmier says this generation of consumer demand is dominated by a different set of social values leading to questions over the way food is produced and the prices they’re willing to pay. Sustainability, organic and non-GMO are providing farmers an income stream isolated from traditional market forces.

Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Environmental Protection Agency Acting Administrator of the Andrew Wheeler recently announced their intent to reassess and correct the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.

The world of agriculture extends beyond what’s growing in your field or living in your barn, and here at Agri-Pulse, we understand that. We make it our duty to inform you of the most up-to-date agricultural and rural policy decisions being made in Washington D.C. and examine how they will affect you – the farmer, the lobbyist, the government employee, the educator, the consultant and the concerned citizen.